This tweet went viral. But the reason isn’t as obvious as it appears. Yes, Chewy delivered great customer service. That deserves praise. But this tweet went viral because tons of OTHER people had similar experiences — so when they saw it, they replied and shared with their own experiences. Consider: 🎨 Chewy makes 1,000 oil paintings of its customers’ pets PER WEEK, and sends them out as gifts! 🌸 Chewy regularly sends flowers to people when their pets die. 😊 Chewy has a team of more than 2,500 trained customer service reps who respond quickly and kindly. Delighting one customer is great. But when you delight ALL your customers, they'll join together to shout your praises. THAT is how you go viral. If you liked this post, please share it with others and follow Jason Feifer for more. 🔥 Want to be more successful and satisfied? My newsletter, One Thing Better, helps you weekly: jasonfeifer.com/newsletter
Just to throw a wet blanket on this whole thing, I wonder how this is a financially-sustainable model. I don't know how expensive their products are, but all that added effort costs something. I just hope it's not debt.
Chewy is awesome! In addition to excellent and truly caring customer service every single call for the 9 years being a customer, I've also received: 1) 2 paintings, one of each of my fur babies "just because" 2) birthday cards and gifts (toys) for my fur babies 3) flowers and a card (the next day!) after each of my fur babies passed (5 years apart) 4) their kindness to other pets by asking me to make donations of food instead of returning to them 5) affordable prices for their products and especially *pet Prescriptions* I myself will continue to sing Chewy's praises to anyone who have ears, and if my heart allows me to get another fur baby in the future, I definitely will be their customer again 🥰
This isn’t about Chewy, but I was checking out at a @TraderJoe’s near me one Friday evening and the cashier was making conversation by asking me if I was doing anything fun that weekend. I hesitated, then said I was cleaning out my mom’s place because she had passed away. As he was finishing with my order, he handed me a bouquet of flowers. Small thing, but it meant a lot.
As someone who said goodbye a week ago to my poor sweet old baby tiger and still sharply feel the hole he left behind, this is incredibly endearing and heartwarming to know there are people out there who understand that the loved ones we grieve include more than humans.
When my dog suddenly passed away, I experienced something extraordinary with Chewy. Their response was nothing short of amazing. They were kind, compassionate, and thoughtful, truly putting people first in a way that left a lasting impression on me. From a business perspective, their approach is genius. Instead of asking me to return the unused food, they encouraged me to donate it. They also sent flowers to comfort me during that difficult time. This act of kindness did two things for their bottom line: it eliminated the costs associated with return shipping and restocking, and it inadvertently reduced their marketing budget. How, you ask? Because now I’m a customer for life. I share this heartwarming story with everyone I meet, creating new customers for Chewy without them spending an extra penny. Case in point, this very post is now a marketing piece for Chewy. By focusing on the customer and their needs, they are not just building goodwill—they are building their business.
My wife and I lost our 3 dogs all in the span of 8 months. Two were 14 and one was 15 years old, I had forgot to shut off the subscription and the Chewy boxes were stacking up. I called, apologized for my mistake and asked for only 1 of the 3 boxes to be refunded since I canceled it the day before it went out. They refunded ALL 3 boxes, sent flowers and a note dedicated to each of our dogs, Bruno, Bella and Sparty. I will never buy from anywhere else. When we went to donate the food we met and adopted this horse of a dog, Remi. Who is nothing short of an angel.
I am among the 679K who liked this tweet on Twitter/X (and the 7.4K who retweeted it with my Chewy story)! It took me back a few years, to when my beloved cat, Tazi, passed unexpectedly (as cats often do). While I was not a Chewy customer, they saw my tweet - and my accompanying agony - and offered condolences from the company and its people. Four years - almost to the day - later, a litter of kittens was born to an abandoned Mama, all of them special needs (Level 5 FAS, slight mental retardation in one of them). Two of them chose me to adopt them and I chose Chewy.com to be my source for all of their needs because I know Chewy cares about my pets as much as I! Photo: Leo (my "special boy") and his baby sister Tabbie.
Chewy and Farmer's Dog have this down. It's fascinating that non-pet-oriented companies haven't figured this out yet.
And meanwhile I walked into a local pet store (I've shopped local with pet stuff for years out of conviction) and in my first 5 minutes was pitched with an $80 bag of freeze-dried food. $20 for a foam frisbee. $15 for 3 tiny femur bone slices. $35 for a bag of 10 CBD treats. Enough. I'm making a todo to look at Chewy. Sorry local vendors, I tried, but I'm not made of money.
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2moGiving me such beautiful Zappos vibes, under the leadership of the late Tony Hsieh. A lady said something similar to customer service about her mom passing away recently and wanted to return an item. They sent flowers, this also went viral, if I’m not mistaken, almost 10 years ago. Being a human being and a good person, is always a good thing. Always.